Here's another project I completed this week. It's a more "traditional" setting with a Lightning Ridge black opal. The fire isn't terribly bright and a bit difficult to photograph, but it's a pretty stone even without it. The blue/black opal is a nice contrast to the silver. The ring is a size 7. The opal is around 2cts.

I have a few suggestions for your next encounter with twist wire: First be sure you anneal the wire. Twist wire has a mind of its own. Next, once you are in the correct size neighborhood, re-anneal the twist so one of the ends can be twisted as to have the two strands of round wire meet and continue the same symmetry in alignment. And last, when wrapping it around the bezel cup for measurement, it might take more than one attempt at soldering to get it tight enough to eliminate any spacing next to the bezel cup. If it is a little too large use a jeweler's saw to cut the ring apart. This leaves the ends much more parallel and easier to re-match the ends rather than using wire cutters.

I have a few suggestions for your next encounter with twist wire: First be sure you anneal the wire. Twist wire has a mind of its own. Next, once you are in the correct size neighborhood, re-anneal the twist so one of the ends can be twisted as to have the two strands of round wire meet and continue the same symmetry in alignment. And last, when wrapping it around the bezel cup for measurement, it might take more than one attempt at soldering to get it tight enough to eliminate any spacing next to the bezel cup. If it is a little too large use a jeweler's saw to cut the ring apart. This leaves the ends much more parallel and easier to re-match the ends rather than using wire cutters.

Keep it up..................................

Thanks for the tips Steve, I'll keep them in mind next time I work with twist wire.

Even if it doesn't have "knock your socks off" fire, its still i nice colored stone. I like it.

The annealing tip from Steve is a good idea. On my last piece i made, i didn't have bezel strip high enough to work with a faceted stone. I had to cut a strip off of my sterling backing sheet and it is too thick to normally bend around to make a bezel for a small faceted stone. I tried annealing for the first time, and i was able to bend the strip all the way around to make an oval bezel and to get the ends to meet. I could have never done that without annealing. It was a first for me and i finally realized what annealing could do for you.

Stretch it. I often get bezels a bit too tight, or a bit too loose. I would rather it be too tight than too loose. When it is too tight, depending on the shape, i will use like a mandrel if i have one that it fits over or if not, i look around the house until i find something else to stretch it with. My last bezel that i annealed, at first was too tight and i just put the nose of some needle nose pliers inside the bezel and spread them apart to stretch the bezel larger. Just be careful to not mess it up to the point that you have to throw it out and start it over.

Very nice! I am fairly new to all this, but it seems my bezels look so much thinner and so flimsy compared to a lot of the rings I see posted. I have been buying ready made from Rio Grande. Do you just cut your own, and if so, what gauge silver do you use? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!